Inheritance Lawyers in Croatia

Our inheritance lawyers in Croatia offer you specialized support in the division of personal legacy, respecting the legislation in force. We recommend those interested to confidently contact our team of professionals to find out as much as possible about the Croatian Inheritance Law and how wealth can be distributed after a person’s death.

Croatian Inheritance Law and the distribution of assets in the family

The Croatian Inheritance Law details how a person’s property and money are distributed among the family after their death. Assets are distributed to the heirs only after the death certificate is issued. Here is other information of interest, specifying that our inheritance lawyers in Croatia can offer you legal advice on this subject:

• The distribution of wealth after a person’s death is done according to the degree of kinship, up to the 4th degree.
• First-degree descendants are those who have priority at the time of distribution of the respective property, and, if there is a will, they keep the right to a forced (reserved) share.
• If there is a will, it is implemented through probate proceedings (before a notary public or municipal court) and can be challenged in court.
• If there are no first-rank descendants, the wealth is divided between the surviving spouse and the parents of the deceased (second order of succession), if they are alive.
• If the deceased person has no descendants, no living parents and no descendants of the parents, the entire estate is inherited by the surviving spouse.
• Also according to the Croatian Inheritance Law, 3rd and 4th-degree relatives can receive the deceased person’s inheritance if he has no other 1st and/or 2nd-degree heirs.

We recommend the services offered by our law firm in Croatia to learn more about Croatian Inheritance Law. On the other hand, if your case involves immigration to Croatia, our specialists are at your disposal with personalized legal advice.

What does common-law marriage entail in the case of inheritance?

A special case that one of our inheritance lawyers in Croatia can also explain to you refers to people who lived with a partner, without marrying him, but being empowered with the legal form of marriage. In case of death, the respective partner is legally considered as an heir, despite the opposition of the children, for example.

To be able to prove the existence of cohabitation in this way, without a registered marriage certificate, the partner who is going to benefit from the inheritance left must present information and documents in this sense and the fact that the informal union lasted at least 3 years (or less if they have a child together).

A difficult case in this sense is the one in which these partners who lived together but were unmarried, had their domicile in a country other than Croatia. Under the EU Succession Regulation 650/2012, the law of the deceased's last habitual residence generally applies, unless the deceased chose the law of his/her nationality.

Our inheritance lawyers in Croatia are here to explain your rights in case of a deceased family member and distribution of his/her assets, according to the legislation of this country.

Inheritance tax in Croatia

When the inheritance is divided in the family, the inheritance tax in Croatia must also be taken into account, as follows:

• The spouse, descendants and ascendants in the direct line are not subject to inheritance tax in Croatia.
• There is an inheritance tax at a flat rate of 4% imposed on other heirs, on inherited cash, receivables, securities and movables worth over EUR 6,700 per item (inherited real estate is subject instead to the 3% real estate transfer tax).
• On the other hand, inheritance tax in Croatia is calculated taking into account the market value of the estate, after the debts have been deducted.
• In the case of movable property received as a gift from relatives of another degree in the family, a gift tax of 4% rate is applied. Our lawyers in Croatia can tell you more about such taxes.

We advise you to learn more about Croatian Inheritance Law from our specialists. Certain cases can be quite complex without specialized assistance and recommendations, that’s why we suggest getting in touch with our inheritance lawyers in Croatia.